The Seven Deadly Sins
by SakuraNoHana97
Summary: A series of Zeki one-shots, each based off of one of the seven deadly sins; Gluttony, Vanity, Sloth, Greed, Envy, Wrath, and Lust. Rated M for lemons and swearing.
1. Gluttony

_I'd just like to add in really fast that I am NOT done with Seven Devils, I simply felt like it's getting harder and harder to write these days, so I've decided to do this story as a little side thing. I'm not sure when I'll update this, seeing as it is just kind of a when I feel like it thing, but if it gets enough reviews, favorites, and followers, I'll try to updating it on a regular basis. Also, Yuuki knows that Kaname is her brother, but he never turned her back into a vampire._

_UPDATE: I've decided to add another chapter to this story if it gets 2 reviews, 5 favorites, and 10 follows, and it's pretty close now, so I'll probably be updating soon._

_Copyright: I don't own Vampire Knight, or any of it's characters, I simply own the story._

* * *

_~Gluttony~_

_Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires._

* * *

The lanterns in town had begun to dimly glow with the rising moon, giving the shop filled streets a warm, orange glow. The cool breeze that carried in the smell of cinnamon was a nice contrast to the otherwise warm weather of the early spring night. It had been a fun night for two girls, who were currently heading back to their school, and one that they probably wouldn't forget for some time. After all, Yori had a secret talent for karaoke, but Yuuki, not so much. So while her friend was trying to give her a hard time, Yuuki simply pulled her long brown hair up into a ponytail and attempted to count the many couples that littered the sidewalks.

It was officially the first day of spring, and therefore, celebration was in order for the townspeople. Yuuki secretly loathed the people around her; the ones who were holding hands, and smiling, and buying each other gifts. The change of season was one of love, and she hadn't had the nerve to ask any guy to come out with her. But thankfully, Yori had agreed that a girl's night out would be fun, seeing as it was something that the two didn't do often. Yuuki was almost always on duty, and at the rare times she wasn't, she was probably hiding out in one of her rooms, fast asleep. But the chairman had let her off the hook for one night, saying that she worked hard enough as is, and deserved a night to go out and have fun.

And while she did have fun, Yuuki couldn't help but feel slightly lonely as she and Yori walked down the barren path to the school. She was grateful to her friend, and did enjoy her company, but the start of spring was something more typically enjoyed by couples, and it was also something she'd never truthfully experienced. As a child, she would run around the town square with her father, dragging Zero along behind her. She'd try to win balloons and stuffed animals, and other small prizes. She smiled at the many memories she had of Zero almost always beating her. She'd always made such a big deal out of it back then, but now, it was something she cherished. Even to this day, she still had the pink rabbit he'd given her after he won a round of ring toss, though she highly doubted he even remembered.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" Yori smiled, waving as she ran off to the Day Class Dorms. Yuuki smiled and waved back, continuing on her own path to the Chairman's Dorm. She and Zero normally spent their weekends there, as opposed to the Day Class Dorms, and seeing as it was a Friday, that was where she needed to be. Sighing quietly to herself, she stuck her hands into the pockets of her light gray jacket, and kicked a small stone that was sitting on the path ahead of her.

Surely, her adoptive father was asleep by now. After all, it was nearly eleven, and Yuuki herself could barely keep down a yawn. Zero would probably be sleeping as well, which slightly saddened her. "Yuuki?" she heard as she opened the front door, "Welcome back, dear!"

"Hi," she smiled sweetly, attempting to kick off her dark brown combat boots.

"Is Zero with you?" her father yawned, walking out from around the wall of his study.

"No," she sighed, giving up and bending down to unlace her shoes instead, "why?"

"He hasn't come back yet." he shrugged, "No matter, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. He's probably out enjoying the festivities. I'm off to bed."

"Good night," Yuuki replied, wrinkling her eyebrows together in a worried expression. Enjoying the festivities? Zero would probably never go to a festival unless someone dragged him by his ankles. "Great," she muttered aloud, closing the large wooden door behind her, "where has he gotten too now?"

Her first idea was, naturally, the Day Class Dorm. She began to jog at a semi fast pace, telling herself that the sooner she found him, the sooner she'd be able to sleep. _Why not just leave him be? He's a big boy, he can take care of himself._ Yuuki shook her head at her own thoughts. She wouldn't be able to sleep if she knew he was missing. Him being near was always something that had comforted her, even if that meant that he was all the way down the hall. Besides, tracking him down when he was missing, which he was often, had become a skill of Yuuki's, seeing as he was almost always in one of two places.

So when she knocked on his door and stood in silence for a good two minutes, she knew most likely exactly where he'd be, but that didn't stop her from grumbling and dragging her feet. Of course he was at the stables, so why even bother to look? He hardly ever needed blood anymore, so it wasn't as if he would die if she didn't find him. And maybe, not having him around her constantly was a good thing. Maybe it would teach her to be more independent, and less hesitant to go places by herself.

Oh, who was she kidding? She turned on her heel and ran back down the stairs. Upon exiting the building, she looked up at the cloud covered moon to see streaks of lightning shatter the otherwise dark sky. _Great._ Just when she thought that all of the storms would be done and over with. So now not only did she have to find him, but she had to do it quickly unless she wanted to get soaked. And here she thought that maybe, just maybe, finding him would be easy for once.

Sure, she knew where he was, but she normally always did. That didn't make getting to him any less difficult. There were Day Class girls, a few vampires, namely Aidou, decided to mess with her, a fight broke out, the headmaster decided to start a conversation, there was always something. But lightning? Zero would probably complain about it spooking the horses, and then yell at her for showing up, just like he normally always did. But no matter how annoyed he got, or how badly he yelled at her, finding him always relieved her to a certain extent, especially after she realized he was truly a vampire.

* * *

Thunder rumbled the ground, and Zero shook his head lightly, trying not to let him affect him. Each crack that filled the air made his ears pound horribly, and his headache just continued to grow worse by the second. With every flash of light that entered the stable, he felt as though someone was harshly twisting a knife into the side of his skull. The storm alone, however, was not what caused him pain, but rather, what was happening in the storm. The people cheering and celebrating, spending time with their families, and simply enjoying each other's company. But for Zero, all he could think about was how horrible of a monster he was.

Today was the one year anniversary of Ichiru's death.

The whole ordeal was something that everyone would rather forget, and one that was not often brought up, especially not around the alabaster haired man. His mind flashed back to when he carried the body of his dead brother past the school gate, and he dropped his head, his dusty lavender colored eyes turning a shade darker, and his white hair shielding them from the world. No matter what he did, he couldn't help but feel remorseful. Despite all that Ichiru had done, he was his brother, and his twin brother at that, so of course there was a part of him that regretted it. But that was now something he'd have to live with. He simply couldn't get over the fact that a year ago at this time, he was washing blood off his hands.

Though, there was a part of the young man that was relieved for the date, as well. It meant that there were only two months left of school, making it two months until he was able to leave, and this time, for good. He was tired of dealing with the antics of the chairman, and he felt that if he could leave, slowly but surely, he'd be able to get over the petty love that he'd had for his childhood friend. If he could distance himself from her like he'd always tried to, he would be able to move on. And while he wasn't exactly sure if he would ever be able to love another, at least he wouldn't have to deal with the constant, paining reminder that the girl right in front of him is the only one he can never have.

_Yuuki..._

The thought made his head pound. It's not like he didn't want to stay. When he was with Yuuki, he felt like he'd actually be okay. Whether he'd admit it or not, when she was around, he felt like he could get through the day, and be proud to say so. They both knew he had suicidal tendencies, and if it hadn't been for the petite girl he held so dear to him, there wasn't a doubt in his mind that he wouldn't still be alive. But he knew that it would be better for the both of them for him to leave. His job was to protect her, after all, and that included from himself.

"Zero?" Yuuki asked quietly, slowly turning into the room. Zero was lounging on a large pile of hay with his hands folded behind his head. His loose white shirt was of great contrast to his almost black jeans, and she could easily see one of his earrings glimmering in what little moonlight shone through the cracks in the old, wooden stable. She'd seen him a million times, yet his extremely close to perfect physique never failed to make her feel slightly uneasy.

"What do you want?" he grumbled, not even bothering to open his eyes. He felt jolts of pain run through forehead with every step he could hear her take.

"I - I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." she muttered, shifting her weight from her left hip to her right. "It's late, and the chairman said you hadn't come back yet."

"As you can see," he sighed, "I'm fine. So you can go now."

"Are you sure?" she frowned, "It's going to storm, and I - "

"Leave, Yuuki." he said angrily, wanting horribly badly to take his pocket knife and stab his own arm in an attempt to numb the searing pain which coursed through his head.

Yuuki stood there quietly for a moment, trying to decide what to say. She didn't feel like leaving him was the right idea, especially with the storm. The place could go up in flames in a second's notice if lightning hit. And not just that, but Zero really didn't look good. His already pale skin was pasty and sweaty, and his features appeared more sunken in than normal.

"Leave." Zero repeated loudly, pulling himself up into a sitting position and opening his eyes to face her. At a first glance, he was slightly worried that she'd cut her hair, but it had only taken him a moment to realize she simply had it up.

"Are you - " Yuuki started, beginning to rush towards him. With one smooth, fluid motion, Zero stood and grabbed Yuuki's wrists tightly. She shrieked, and he harshly threw her against the creaky wall, pushing her wrists harshly against the old wood to keep her up. Her eyes were wide with shock and fear as he loomed over her.

"I said leave!" he yelled. Her eyes darted back and forth between both of his dark silver one.

"I - I'm not afraid of you." she said suddenly, mustering up all of her courage. The vampire snarled at her before tearing away and briskly walking out the door. She cupped one of her wrists in her hand for a minute, starting to feel the heavy pressure on her chest lift off of her. "Wait, Zero!" she yelled, whipping her head out the door. But he was already gone. Yuuki hugged herself sadly as walked over to the gate in the lightly misting rain, closing it behind her.

Why is it that every single time she tried to help him, things ended up being a bajillion times worse? It's not as though she planned to make him angry with her so often, it just always seemed to happen. And just when she was relieved she had found him, he was missing all over again, and now it truly was storming. But she knew better than to blame herself over her current situation. In fact if anyone really needed to be blamed, it Zero, but it's not like either of them would ever admit he was in the wrong. Sighing, she turned around, and rather than tread all the way to the Day Class Dorms and start her game of chase all over again, she decided it was best to go back to her father's dorm and wait for him to come back, seeing as he'd have to eventually.

* * *

Zero slammed his fist into the wall of his bedroom and silently prayed to any God or Goddess that would listen that the chairman hadn't heard him, and that Yuuki wasn't angry with him. He bit the inside of his lip so hard he drew blood, and sat at the edge of his bed, holding his head in his hands. Why was he so stupid? He'd touched her harshly; he'd _hurt_ her. If he couldn't even find it in him to forgive himself, how in the hell was Yuuki supposed to forgive him? He was feeling angry and hurt, and he'd taken it out on her, which was something he'd promised himself he'd never do.

In fact, there was such a long list of things he'd told himself he'd never do to her, most of which he'd already done without thinking. Taking from her, letting her become attached to him, hurting her mentally, and now physically as well; they were all things that he'd always tried to avoid, yet some how, one way or another, he'd let them happen. And as if it weren't bad enough, he was also slightly relieved that there was still one thing on his list that he hadn't had to check off.

Yuuki could never, _ever_ figure out about his feelings for her. No matter how difficult it was at times for him to control himself around her, he somehow always managed to do it. All those times she'd gotten so close to him without thinking anything of it, it was all he could think about; how she felt pressed up against him, embracing him, how soft she was, and how good she smelled. Yet he was almost positive she had no clue he thought this way.

Zero fell back against his bed, leaving his arms to fold over his eyes. He felt horrible over what had happened, but was more so disgusted at himself that even at a time like this, he couldn't help but fantasize. It was something he'd, regretfully, always done. Within the first few years of meeting Yuuki, it was innocent things, such as marrying her, and the two of them having children. But as he grew into his adolescence, those thoughts change drastically. It was always what happened _after_ they were married, what was needed to _make_ a child. Once a thought of Yuuki popped into his head, he simply wondered everything about it, which had begun to become a serious disadvantage for him.

But what if she hated him? What if she saw him and decided she didn't want to talk to him anymore? He had physically injured her, and he honestly wouldn't put it past her if she decided to never even look at him again. Hell, he didn't even think he could look at himself in the mirror without wanting to punch his reflection. He moved one of his arms upon hearing the front door open, and sighed sadly to himself. Of course she was home. And the fact that she hadn't had enough time to check for him anywhere pretty much proved that she didn't want to talk to him.

He knew he'd have to say something to her. He couldn't just let her live knowing that he had grabbed her and thrown her into a wall, and that he didn't give it a second thought. In fact, the guilt was currently eating him alive. But, naturally, she could probably care less about anything he had to say, especially right now. Maybe he should wait until tomorrow. Or hell, why not just write her a note or something? Zero groaned to himself, recovering his eyes with his arm, and continued to mentally debate and murder himself.

* * *

_I hope he's okay..._

The thought constantly repeated in Yuuki's head, consistantly worrying her. What if he'd run out into the forest or something? He'd probably be too stubborn to come back anytime that night, which meant he'd probably end up sleeping on a log. Or what if he felt so angry, he hurt himself? What if she wasn't there to stop him like she normally was? She nearly sprinted up the stairs into her room, determined to calm down. Stepping on the heels of her shoes, she pulled them off with ease, and threw them in the corner of her pale purple room.

Sighing sadly to herself, she walked over to her closet and bent down, slowly digging through a pile of clothes, bags, and other random objects, until she finally found what she was looking for. She pulled up the old, soft, pink rabbit by one of it's lopsided ears, and looked at it nostalgically. She giggled slightly upon remembering how it only had one eye.

* * *

_"Help!" Yuuki screamed, rushing into the kitchen._

_"Are you alright?" her father asked, bending down to stare at the girl._

_"It's not me!" she said sadly, holding up a dirty pink rabbit, "His eye is gone! I think I swallowed it in my sleep! We have to perform surgery!"_

_"On who?" the chairman asked, determined not to laugh about what his daughter thought was obviously a very serious issue._

_"On Bun-Bun!" she screamed._

_"Gods, why are you so loud?" Zero asked, strolling over to the fridge, still in his pajamas._

_"Zero!" she cried, rushing over to him, "Bun-Bun's eye is gone! I think I ate it!"_

_Zero closed the fridge after grabbing a carton of milk and stared at her. "You ate it?" he asked sarcastically._

_"I think I did!" the small girl said, "I looked all over, and I can't find his eye anywhere!"_

_"Oh, no," he sighed, "that's too bad. Well, it was nice knowing you." _

_"Zero, how many times do I have to tell you not to drink straight out of the carton." the chairman sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose._

_"What do you mean nice knowing you?" Yuuki asked, obviously horrified._

_"You swallowed a button, and that means that you're going to choke, and you're going to die. I'll make sure they plant red roses by your headstone."_

_"Zero!" the chairman scolded as Yuuki started sobbing. The boy simply shrugged and walked into the open living room, taking the milk with him._

_"I don't want to die!" the small girl screamed, dropping the rabbit at her feet and crying into her hands._

_"Ugh, okay, okay! You won't die, I made it up!" Zero groaned, rolling his eyes, "Just stop crying."_

_"I - I won't?" she sniffed, picking up her rabbit and walking over to him._

_"No," he rolled his eyes again, "and you didn't actually eat the button. It probably fell off at the store yesterday."_

_"Good!" Yuuki yelled, hugging him tightly. Given their young ages, he was barely taller than her, but the force she used was enough to make him fall over, dousing them both in milk._

_"Hey!" Zero yelled as Yuuki and the chairman began to laugh._

* * *

Yuuki hugged the small rabbit to her chest and sat it down on the cream colored comforter of her bed. Still smiling at the memory, she shrugged off her sweatshirt and pulled her black shirt over her head. After slipping off her socks and jeans, she began to dig through her dresser in an attempt to find a sleeping shirt and at least a pair of shorts. Grumbling at the realization that her all of her sleeping shorts were dirty, she grabbed a pair of dark blue sweat pants and a loose gray shirt. She threw them onto her bed and walked back over to the end of mattress, thankful that she hadn't opened the curtains on the large window behind her bed before she left earlier.

Unbeknownst to her, the door slowly opened as she unclipped her bra and let it fall down her arms. "Yuuki?" Zero said quietly, peering into the room. Yuuki shrieked, crossing her arms over her chest as she turned around. Eyes wide, Zero slammed the door shut and turned around, ramming his head into the wall opposite of her room.

_Well there goes another thing on your list._

Zero repeatedly hit his forehead against the wall, his headache slowly becoming more of a self inflicted wound than an annoyance. Maybe, just maybe, if he hit his head hard enough, he'd forget what he'd just seen; Yuuki, looking beautiful as ever, in nothing but a small pair of aqua panties.

_Yuuki in her panties._

He drove his head against the wall with added force, and began to feel his whole face go numb. _Stupid. You are stupid. You are the biggest idiot in the world. You're a pervert, and you're an asshole, and now she'll really never want to look at you again._

"Uh," Yuuki whispered, cracking open her door, "you can come in now." Sighing, Zero walked into her room and lightly closed the door behind him while she climbed up onto her bed and sat a pink stuffed rabbit in her lap.

"Sorry," Zero mumbled, reclining in the spinning chair she had at her desk.

"Oh, it's okay," Yuuki smiled, "you didn't know." She began to mindlessly play with the bunny's ear, and Zero lightly turned himself from one side to the other in the black chair. Both of them wanted to say something, but they didn't really know how to start.

"Are your wrists okay?" Zero asked.

"Yeah," she replied, "they're just a little bruised."

"What about your back?"

"It's just sore." she shrugged, "I'm fine, really. And I'm glad that you're okay."

"You're glad that I'm okay?" Zero raised one of his eyebrows, stopping his swiveling so he was facing the end of her bed.

"Yeah," she sighed, "I was worried you'd run off into the forest or something."

"Yuuki, I _threw you_ into a _wall._" he said slowly, making sure to carefully exaggerate every syllable.

"You didn't throw me into a wall." she snorted, "You just pushed me up against one."

Zero shook his head, "I physically attacked you, and you're still worried about me?"

"Zero, you didn't attack me." Yuuki frowned, looking up at him, "And yeah, I was. I didn't want you to kill yourself over it or anything."

"Regardless," he sighed, "I'm sorry. I had a headache, and I was angry, and I took it out on you when I shouldn't have."

"It's okay." she smiled again, "I know you are. But you have a headache?"

"Yeah." he muttered, rubbing two fingers into each side of his temple.

"I don't think that slamming your head into a wall helped that." she giggled.

"No," he said sarcastically, "I wasn't aware of that."

"Look," she sighed, "I just - I know that you probably don't want to talk about it, but I do remember about today. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." he grumbled, "They were my actions, I did it, and you have nothing to be sorry for."

"Well, I'm sorry that you're hurting, and I can't help you." Lightning hit rather close to the school grounds, making Yuuki jump, then laugh quietly to herself at how easily she had been scared.

They both knew that she could help his pain go away, but neither one of them was going to bring it up, especially not Zero. He'd done enough to her for one day, and he didn't feel like adding to that. "Zero, you don't look good." Yuuki sighed, "And I know that you're not okay, but I mean, are you sick or something?" He just shrugged at her, well aware of what she was playing at.

"Not sick," he snorted, "just guilty."

"You didn't do anything wrong, Zero." Yuuki said sadly.

"Yes, I did, Yuuki. I hurt you, and I killed my own damn brother! How you can you care about someone like me? I truthfully don't understand it, but I know that if I were you, I would hate me."

"I can't hate you." she said quietly, "And you didn't hurt me." Feeling his blood begin to boil again at the painful remembrance of everything he hated about himself, Zero stood up, intent on leaving the room. "Wait, Zero, don't leave!" Yuuki called out. Keeping one hand on the brass knob of the door, Zero kept his head low, but slightly turned it in her direction.

"Why?" he said, "Why should I stay?"

"Because I want you to." she said sadly, "We hardly ever talk anymore, and I - " Yuuki's words died in her throat as he stormed over to her and grabbed her wrists.

"Look, Yuuki!" he said angrily, "Look at what I did to you!"

"You didn't mean to," she whispered, trying to calm both herself and him down.

"That's just it, Yuuki." he spat, "I didn't even mean to do this, yet I still did. I lost control of myself, and that's something I promised I'd never do." He gently placed a kiss on the inside of both of her wrists, making her breath hitch. He could hear her blood coursing through her body, and his fangs had started to protrude, sending a wave of pain through his jaw. "I'm sorry," he said again, backing her up to the sand colored headboard of her bed. He pressed her back and wrists against the carved wood ever so lightly, allowing her to pull away if she wanted to. Slowly, he sank his fanged canines into the delicate ivory skin of her neck.

Her back arched against him at the sudden pain that shot through her. _It'll pass,_ she reminded herself, _you're helping Zero._ Sighing shakily, Yuuki felt her body relax as she became accustomed to the weird, dull ache in her neck as Zero bit down over and over again, pulling blood from her. He drank deeply, which was something he hardly ever did, in an attempt to sate his sudden thirst as fast as possible. He released his hold on her right arm, needing to make use of his hand to prop himself up against her, and she used the opportunity to snake her thin fingers through his thick, still slightly damp, hair. A shiver ran down Zero's spine at the loving gesture, and he couldn't help but wonder why? Even at a time like this, why was she being so nice to him? He had been so rough, so harsh, and yet she was still gently holding him as though nothing had ever happened.

Seeing as she was already tired, it wasn't long until Yuuki began to feel light-headed. She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut as tightly as she could, and began to take deep breaths to stabilize herself. She could hear him gulping and gasping against her neck, a sound which was slightly odd and unnerving, but she had grown to find it comforting as well. The only problem with Zero taking Yuuki's blood, especially since he had learned, for the most part anyways, how to control his thirst, was that it tended to be somewhat of a treat to him. Her rich, velvety blood, which was coppery with a slight chocolate tang to it, was the only blood he craved, just as she was the only one he'd so desperately wanted. The more he took in, the harder it became for him to want to stop. He knew he had to, seeing as he'd hurt her enough, especially today, and he didn't want to continuously take from her.

But the longer he buried his teeth into her soft skin, the more he drank, the further away the thought of stopping became to him. All he'd ever done is hurt her. Even now, that's all he was doing. It killed him that he'd never be able to truly show her that he cared for her, he'd never be able to bestow the feelings upon her that he so badly wanted to. He'd never be able to help her in the way she helped him, and he felt as though he'd never be able to pay her back for all that she's done.

"Zero," she sighed quietly, "I can't - I can't see - " Yuuki's words were cut off when she deeply inhaled, struggling to keep herself conscious. Zero pushed against her even harder, doubling the heavy feeling on her chest. _Why isn't he stopping?_ Her eyes began to roll into the back of her head, and she sucked in as much air as she could through her mouth, tightening her hold on the back of his head and weakly trying to pull him off of her. "Zero, please," she whispered, feeling herself growing numb.

Using what little control over himself that he had left, Zero jerked back suddenly, releasing Yuuki's other hand as he did so. Struggling to gain control of his breathing, he looked up at her, his expression growing more horrified the longer he stared. Her shirt was at least half soaked with blood, and the weak smile she gave him was more than enough for the realization of what he'd just done to sink in. He had scared her. He had taken from her yet again, and this time, he wouldn't budge, he wouldn't let go. It were as though he were a dog, and she his chew toy.

"It's okay," Yuuki panted, "you - "

"Don't." Zero said through clenched teeth as he stood up, "Do not sit there and tell me that what I just did was okay." He pulled off his own shirt and tossed it at her before walking into her bathroom. Yuuki got the idea, and began to change shirts, being extra careful to cover herself as she did so. Zero ran two washcloths under cool water, and after cleaning off his own face, he moved over to the frail girl who was trying to bury herself under the covers of her bed.

Still angry with himself, he began to lightly run one of the rags up and down her neck and along her shoulder, attempting to clean the dried, flaky blood from her without causing her any further pain. She had started to doze off, so he silently pulled down the arm of the shirt, revealing her full shoulder. What had he done? What was wrong with him? All Yuuki had ever done was care for him, and in return, he'd _used_ her. It seemed that each and every time he came into contact with her, he hurt her, each time worse than the last.

After cleaning up his mess, he pulled the blankets up over her bare shoulder and placed the rabbit by her head. He closed his eyes and walked to the door, flicking off the light on his way out. "I'm sorry," he mumbled again as he closed the door behind him, "thank you, Yuuki."


	2. Vanity

_I do have to say, this chapter, along with Greed, was probably the hardest to get an idea for, so I apologize if you feel that it doesn't particularly pertain to being vain in itself. I tried to use the second definition that I found for vanity, but I'm not even sure if it will work out as well as I had hoped. But, here it is, the second installment in the Seven Deadly Sins series, Vanity._

_UPDATE: I'll update to the next chapter once the story has 5 reviews, 10 favorites, and 15 follows. Sorry to be difficult, I just want to make sure that people are actually enjoying it so far. Plus this isn't like my other story; I write these a day or so before I post them, where as in my other story, I wrote them a long time ago and I simply revise them. So I don't want to go into full on panic writing mode just yet ;)_

_Copyright: I don't own Vampire Knight or any of it's characters, ( or Lowes and Toyota ), I simply own the story._

* * *

_~Vanity~_

_Vanity is an excessive belief in one's own abilities._

* * *

"Well?" Yuuki sighed, propping her boot covered feet up onto her father's desk, "What do you have to say for yourselves?" The chairman had been ill for a few days now, and it was getting so bad, he couldn't even handle his own duties. Naturally, Yuuki didn't hesitate to fill in for him. Though, she couldn't say that helping her father out was the only reason she'd agreed to do it.

It had been a week since Zero attacked Yuuki, and while she seemed fine, he couldn't bare to be around her. The guilt was still getting to him, and he didn't have it in him to face her. She'd tried consistently to at least make him talk to her again, but he'd never give in. During class, he'd sit even further up than he normally did, and she couldn't feel his uneasy gaze on her like she normally did. He purposely avoided her at all costs, especially when they were on patrol. She'd followed him once or twice, but normally he'd just find a nice tree to take a nap under, and that was it.

"Okay," Aidou sighed, "I know that this seems bad, but - "

"Seems bad?" Yuuki snorted, "You decided to have a little vampire-off in front of a group of Day Class girls."

"Well that's because Akatsuki said that fire always beats ice, and I said he was lying, so we decided to figure out." the blonde man huffed, crossing his arms and slamming his back into the puffy red chair opposite of the desk.

"I suggested we go someplace more private," Kain muttered, "but Hanabusa said that it had to happen right there."

"So, what do you want to do about all of the mentally scarred Day Class girls I have outside?" Yuuki asked, looking back and forth from the cousins. It was quiet for a minute, until squeals and cheering erupted from beyond the door. Yuuki groaned and slammed her head against the chair, folding her arms across her chest much like Aidou had at the timely arrival of her brother. Aidou and Kain looked at each other nervously as the large, heavy wooden doors were forcefully pushed opened, and swung back closed with a loud thud.

"Yuuki," Kaname sighed, walking beside her, "it's nice to see you, as always."

"You as well." she said, not tearing her gaze from the guilty, horrified expression of Aidou._ This is going to be funny._

"Well?" the Pureblood asked, "Care to explain yourselves?"

"It was an honest accident." Aidou lied, laughing nervously, "We were arguing, you see, and things just started to - "

"Hanabusa," Kain shook his head, "you're just going to make this far worse for us."

"The two of you will now have the joy of supplementary classes every night for the next two weeks, and erasing the memory from each and every girl out there. If a single one of them remembers _anything,_ the consequences will be severe. _Do you understand?_" Kaname hissed, the reaction his words gave Aidou making Yuuki lightly snort with laughter.

"Ah, yes!" Aidou yelled, standing up in an attempt to run from the room. Grumbling and shaking his head, his orange eyed cousin followed him.

"Well," Yuuki's older brother sighed after they had left, "are you alright?"

"Of course I am," she frowned, "it's not like I was there. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're dealing with a lot, Yuuki." he said sadly, lifting her ankles and placing her feet back onto the ground, "Finals are coming up, so you should be busy as is. Now that you've taken over the job of headmaster, you'll barely have any time to do anything else."

"I'm fine," she protested, pulling her long brown hair from behind her back, letting it fall down her shoulders, "I'm a multi-tasker."

"Speaking of which," he sighed, "how is your father doing?"

"Eh," she shrugged, "he'll be okay, if that's what you mean. He's just been sleeping a lot."

"Do tell him I give him my best wishes. And if you need any help, all you need to do is ask." the Pureblood smiled, his longish hair bouncing lightly as he walked towards the door.

"I will." Yuuki smiled back, forcing herself to stand up. After all, it was time to head out for the night.

_Alone. Again._

Shaking her head, she followed her brother out of the room, but turned right instead of left, intending to go up to check on the chairman before she left. And who knows, maybe she'd pass Zero on her way up the stairs, a sign that he was going to actually going to help her tonight. But alas, the stairwell was empty, just as the rest of the house appeared to, sadly, be. Before continuing down the hall to her father's room, she stopped, and slowly peered into Zero's room out of curiosity.

_Empty._

Of course it was. She didn't even know why she'd let herself get her hopes up. After class, he simply disappeared, and given how much she was doing, she hadn't had the time to find him. Feeling a wave of sadness wash over her, she turned down the hall, slowly opening the door to the headmaster's bedroom. Sure enough, he was sleeping, exactly how she had left him. She sat down beside him, grabbed the thermometer from the side table, and ran the cool metal over his head. Yuuki sighed at the blinking numbers and stood up again, heading towards his bathroom.

Maybe she shouldn't have agreed to do so much. All she wanted to do was help, but it seemed like she couldn't even help herself. There was enough on her mind already, and the fact that Zero wouldn't so much as look at her made her feel horrible. She couldn't help but wonder if it was her fault, that maybe he'd finally had enough of her checking up on him so often or something. She was already well aware that he was looking for apartments, so maybe he was going to leave early without saying anything.

The thought killed her. Not being able to see him, to talk to him when she needed to, or simply have him around honestly scared her. Zero held such a big part of her heart, and was such a large part of her life, that when the realization that he was leaving started to sink in, it stung horribly. He'd talked it over with the chairman and taken a ton of advanced and extra classes so he could graduate with his actual class, and Yuuki was only now beginning to understand that he did it so he could leave.

But if he didn't want to talk to her, and if he truly did want to leave her, then she should let him. It might take some time for her to come to terms with, but she'd always known that they'd have to leave each other eventually. She just felt like it was happening way too soon. It seemed like just yesterday, the two started high school. Only a week ago, they were both just children, and she'd still have to help him through his nightmares. Give it a month, and he had just come into her care. In the last two years especially, so much had changed.

And while she wanted Zero to go out and start a family of his own, she was more than a little worried that he'd forget about his old family. She didn't want him to leave and not look back every once in a while. She wanted to be able to visit him at the very least, and maybe, just maybe, once they both started their own families, they could all spend holidays together. But something told her than Zero was dead set on just flat out leaving, and that no matter how hard she tried to change his mind, he wouldn't.

But if that was what he truly wanted to do, she would support him. She'd even help him move his stuff out of his room and into his new house, which secretly gave her an outlet. If she just showed up on his door, she highly doubted he'd let her stay on the street. Hell, maybe if she timed it right, she could even stay the night sometime. Wringing out a cold rag, Yuuki walked back over to her father's sleeping figure, and rested the folded cloth on his forehead. Hopefully, he'd be better soon, and she could actually study like she desperately needed to.

_Make sure dad's still alive; check. Study; not check. Call the book company to check on the new shipment of math books; not check. Ask Yagari and Kaname about the formation of the Protection and Enforcement class for the Night Class next year; not check. Get Zero to carry out a conversation; triple not check._

Yuuki scribbled a note to her father saying that she was heading out just in case he woke up. It's bad enough he was sick with pneumonia, she didn't need him to have a heart attack because his dear daughter was missing, either. As she stood up, she felt as though someone had begun to lie on her chest, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake it off. She felt so confused about her own feelings she wanted to simply curl up and die. Yes, it was true, she had feelings for Zero, and ones that she had tried very, very hard to get rid of.

Every time he pushed her away, yelled at her, blamed her for something, became annoyed with her, a piece of her died. She'd always tried to deny what she felt, but she almost never could. She thought that burying them deep inside of her was enough to make her forget about them, but obviously not. She was just so scared of losing him that she couldn't think straight.

"Zero?" Yuuki asked a dark figure at the end of the hallway as she exited her father's room. Seeing it nearly impossible to mistake his well built figure, she raced towards him, intending on hugging him. If she could trap him, he'd have to talk to her.

Just as she started running, he slid into his room, and slammed the door shut behind him. "Damn it, Zero!" Yuuki yelled, pounding her small fists against the door, "Come out!" Yuuki groaned and leaned her head against the dark oak, dropping her fists to her side. "I'm leaving, so are you coming out to help me tonight or not?"

Still, nothing sounded from the other side of the door. Zero inhaled deeply, slipping his black jacket off his shoulders and beginning to pop the buttons of his vest. _Go away, Yuuki._ He heard her grumble something about him being difficult, only to hear her slam against the barrier between the two. "Ow!" she yelled, "Damn it, Zero, why'd you lock the door!"

He shook his head at her and lightly smiled, tossing his vest into the corner. He loosened his tie and pulled it over his head before feeding the plastic buttons of his white shirt through their corresponding holes. Of course he felt bad for not talking to her, but why wouldn't he? And while it killed him, and he knew that it was hard on her as well, he was constantly worried that he'd lose control again. He couldn't forgive himself for the first time he'd done it, so imagine what would happen if he accidentally attacked her again?

Along with that, he knew he drank _way_ too much from her that last time. He was only glad that she had been okay afterwards. She slept almost the entire day, but that was it. If he had fatally hurt her, he really didn't know what he would have done to himself. But what happened that night just proved to him how badly he needed to leave. He was a threat to her, and the only way for that to change was if he wasn't in the picture. Besides, he was still working for the Hunter's Association, so it's not as if he'd be totally alone for the rest of his life.

But without Yuuki, he might as well be. If not talking to her had this kind of effect on him, he could only imagine what not seeing her again would be like. And unbeknownst to either of them, he was just as afraid of losing her as she was of losing him. But Zero also knew that if he didn't leave her now, he might lose her forever somewhere down the road, and he'd probably have only himself to blame. So no matter how hard it would be for them, he was going to do it, because when it came to Yuuki and her well being, he'd do whatever it would take.

* * *

Two in the morning was approaching quickly, and Yuuki yawned, hugging her knees into her chest. It seemed like the school was deserted this late at night, seeing as everyone was either in class or sleeping. It was way too late to ask Yagari about classes, and Kaname was in class, so she didn't want to bother him. It literally seemed as though she had nothing to do, so perching on the thick railing above the school seemed like her best option.

Thankfully, the last of the long line of storms that passed through the area hit earlier in the week, so she wouldn't have to hide out under terraces the entire night. But being alone did give her some time to think. She had already told herself that there was no way she was going to let Zero just up and leave. The only part she wasn't sure of was how exactly she was going to keep him from cutting her out of his life.

Feeling her eyes droop, she squealed, and clenched the stone fence she was resting on out of fear of falling. _Maybe I should just leave. It's not like anyone's even here._ Sighing, Yuuki spun around and slipped off of the fence, realizing that maybe taking one more look around the school before going to bed would be a good idea. After all, if anyone asked her why she was missing, if anyone even noticed, that is, she could simply say that she was checking on her father. It wouldn't be a total lie, since she would probably end up checking on him before she fell asleep.

And Zero as well, for that matter. Well, if his door wasn't still locked, which it probably was, but that didn't mean she wouldn't try. She was worried about him, whether he knew it or not. Not wanting him to leave wasn't just because she was afraid of losing him, but also because she was afraid of what he would do if he were alone. She'd always watched over him, and that was something he knew he'd always have had he needed it. But if he moved, he wouldn't have that liability anymore, and there was no telling what kind of trouble he could get into.

The first place Yuuki went after she reached her front door was the kitchen. She desperately needed some hot chocolate to calm her racing mind. She climbed up onto the counter rather than grabbing a stool, something that her father always yelled at her for, and swung open the cabinet, pulling down the light blue box. Popping it open, she stared inside at the brown cardboard with annoyance.

_Nice. Let's add 'Go to the store' to our already busy list for tomorrow._

She closed the cabinets and jumped down, tossing the empty hot chocolate box into the garbage as she did so, and stormed up the stairs. Her father's loud snoring was enough to tell her that he was still breathing, therefore she didn't even bother to open the door. She reached her hand out to Zero's door and attempted to turn the handle, but it wouldn't budge. Shaking her head, she sighed and turned to her own door. _Stupid knob is stuck._ She twisted the brass ball with all her force, pushing herself against the dark wood in an attempt to break it open.

_I forgot to unlock it before I left earlier! Now I'll have to climb through the window to get in!_

Groaning again, she dragged her feet down the stairs. Hell, she was too tired to climb up the side of her house, plus the entire place was still virtually vacant, meaning she could potentially fall to her death, and no one would know until morning. She pulled off her shoes and socks, neatly placing them in the corner so that her father wouldn't have a cow in the morning. She also took off her ribbon and jacket, leaving her in her white undershirt and black skirt. Her hair was messy as is, so she didn't feel the need to do anything with it. She sprawled out on the long, tan couch, and threw the quilt the chairman left folded on the back of it over her, determined to get even a little sleep before something else stressed her out.

* * *

_"Zero," Yuuki said sadly, "don't. Please, don't."_

_"Why not?" he replied, attempting to keep his anger from exploding, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't?"_

_"Because I don't want you to!" she yelled, small, crystal-like tears of hurt beginning to fall down her face, "Because - because I want you to stay! Don't leave me alone, Zero, please!"_

_Zero looked over at the small girl who was down on her knees with her hands covering her face, deliberately trying to hide her sobs from him. He had to leave; he had to get out of there as soon as possible before he hurt her again. But by the way she was crying, it was obvious she meant everything she had said, and how what he didn't mean had so literally affected her. He sighed and walked away from the door, kneeling in front of her. He pulled her delicate hands away from her face, and she fell into him, letting him hold her like they both so badly wanted._

_"I have to go, Yuuki." he said stubbornly, "You know that."_

_"Why?" she asked, sitting up and cupping his cheeks in the palms of her hand, "Why do you have to leave?"_

_"I can hurt you." he said sadly, his face turning to stone in a solemn expression as he pulled her arms down._

_"You won't." she cried, "I know you won't."_

_"I already have."_

_"No! You haven't! You can't leave me like this!"_

_"I'm sorry." was all he said as he pushed her away from him, stood up, and began to walk to the door._

_"Wait!" she yelled, standing up and using the back of the couch to stabilize herself, "I - I'm sorry! I don't want you to remember me like this!" Zero sighed and shook his head at her, reaching his hand out to grab the silver handle of the door, but that didn't keep her from wiping the tears from her cheeks with the sleeves of her sweater and charging towards him. "Can you hug me?" she asked quietly, "Just, one last time?"_

_Hanging his head, he slowly turned around, and she wasted no time to tightly wrap her arms around him. He awkwardly crossed his arms over her back, holding her shoulders, but she didn't seem to mind. "This isn't how I want you to remember me." she repeated quietly. She slid away from him, and moved her hands back up to his face. "That isn't how I want you to remember me." she said again, this time no louder than a whisper._

_In less than a total of three seconds, Yuuki had stood up on her tiptoes, and pulled him down to meet her, cramming her lips onto his. Zero couldn't say he wasn't slightly shocked, but her actions made a bit of pride swell in his chest. He turned his head slightly to the right and pushed against her with equal force, much to her relief, it would seem. She let her right hand fall down his neck, leaving it to rest on his shoulder, while he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling away for a quick moment to let the two of them catch their breath, only to dive right back in again._

_He couldn't believe this was actually happening. There was something about the entire situation that made it seem like it was all in his head. But no, she really was right in front of him, kissing him as though her life depended on it. It was almost too good to be true._

* * *

Zero's eyes shot open at the loud, annoying buzzing sound that had managed to make it's way to his ears. _It was a dream._ Of course it was a dream; as if Yuuki would actually ever kiss _him_. Without moving a single inch of his body, besides his right arm, he reach over and slammed his hand down onto the black, beeping alarm clock on the table beside his head. He couldn't believe what his mind had just made up on it's own. It was as if every thought that filled his head truly was about Yuuki, though especially lately, he couldn't say that wasn't true to a certain extent.

He kicked the covers off of himself, but continued to lie on his bed for a few more moments before even attempting to stand up. The whole dream had physically felt so real that it almost scared him; he swore his lips were even slightly puffy. But his door was still locked, and his window still shut, so there was no chance that anyone could have actually come in and kissed him. The thought was so dumb in itself that it made him smile. He was literally going crazy, wasn't he?

Sighing, he opened his door and ran his hand through his silver hair on his way down the stairs. With any luck, Yuuki would still be in bed and wouldn't wake up until after he had already left. In fact, as he walked into the kitchen to start his coffee, he didn't even notice her. But after turning around to pick up the remote for the TV across the room, it became extremely obvious that he'd have to be really, really careful to avoid waking her up.

_Stupid girl. Why couldn't she sleep in her own damn bed?_

Sighing, he walked over to the sofa, where Yuuki was sprawled out, upside down and half hanging off the couch, her blanket thrown over the coffee table. Slowly, he lifted her shoulders, removing her head from the floor, and wrapped his other arm around her knees. Silently praying that neither she, nor the chairman for that matter, woke up, he carried her up the stairs, and attempted to kick open her door.

_So that's why she was on the couch._

Scowling at his own stupidity, Zero walked across the hall into his own room, and gently laid her down on his bed. Now he'd probably have to take off her door or something else extremely foolish because she had barred it shut from the inside. He opened his dresser as quietly as he could and pulled out a pair of jeans and a dark red shirt, deciding that he could change in the bathroom.

After all, this was his first day of going to look at houses, something which unsettled him to a certain degree, but also, surprisingly enough, relieved him. Today was the first step in his leaving process, and that meant he would be one step closer to what he felt would solve most of his problems. But whatever he did, he simply couldn't shake the guilt of having to leave in the first place. If he stayed, he'd hurt her, if he leaves, he'll hurt her. The only thing that was keeping him from staying was the fact that if he left, he'd hurt her less.

But the decision itself had been a hard one for the vampire hunter to make, and that was saying something. He wished that things had turned out differently, especially between the two of them. He wished that he could have changed her mind about Kaname all of those years ago, or maybe, had he been more accepting towards the man, Yuuki would have grown feelings for him instead. He wished that he would have been able to tell her how he felt, because now certainly wasn't the right time to proclaim his love for her. But most of all, he wished that maybe, just maybe, that day would come, whether it was a few years from now, or somewhere in the near future, where he could freely express to her the emotions that he had harbored inside of him for all of these years.

The position he had been put in was one that deeply distraught him, as it was essentially a lose-lose situation. But he knew that he had to do what was right, and given the circumstances, this was the best option for everyone. Even though she didn't fully understand, hell, even though _he_ didn't fully understand, he was more than well aware that it was something that had to happen.

But, who knows, maybe their paths would cross again someday. Maybe by some weird occurrence, five years from now, they'd see each other in town, or perhaps he'd come back and visit the school. He highly doubted she'd ever be too far away from her father, or her brother as well, for that matter, so if she was gone upon his return, she would undoubtedly be close by. By the time he would next see her after leaving, she might have already married someone and had children, possibly even with, Gods forbid, Kaname.

He knew that she didn't particularly agree with the whole incest thing, but it was common in Pureblooded bloodlines. Seeing as they were the last two of the Kuran family, even though Yuuki was no longer a vampire, there was always a chance. But even if the two did marry, Zero would never, ever let her brother bite her. And if he did, it'd be the last thing he'd ever do. He refused to allow Yuuki to become what he knew all to well he was; a violent, predatory, blood thirsty, damned being to hell. That was the last thing he'd ever wish upon _anyone_, but especially not her.

But it was weird the way that fate seemed to work. While Zero had been turned into a vampire, she had been released from her life as one. Had the snowy haired man not been turned, he never would have met the woman that held his heart. Had she never been released, he probably never would've given the beautiful Kuran princess the time of day. But the way things had twisted out to be, the two had grown close, and Zero felt as though this was the world's cruel way of separating them.

_As long as she's safe_, he reminded himself as he poured the rich black liquid from the pot of the coffee brewer into a to-go mug. He was irritable as is, and mornings seemed to double his annoyance, which was something Yuuki and the headmaster had learned all too well. Though, he was determined not to let anything make him too grumpy today, seeing as finding a house was something he needed to be serious about.

His mind, however, couldn't help but twist the little details. He could hardly hide how disappointed he was that this wasn't happening the way he had planned it out when he was younger. Until he realized just how big of a threat Kaname was to him when it came to Yuuki, he'd always thought that they'd be looking for houses _together_. Before he realized Yuuki's obvious feelings for the Pureblood, he thought he'd never be put in the situation of having to leave her; he thought that they would have wound up together, they would move in together, and simply live like that forever.

Only now did he understand how stupid and childish the thoughts were. Leave it to a thirteen year old to plan out his entire life, and then feel depressed when none of it actually happens years later. Shaking his head at his idiocy, Zero carried his mug to the bathroom and stripped off his shirt, intending to get this day and the rest that followed until graduation over with as quickly as possible.

* * *

It took Yuuki's eyes a few minutes to adjust to the light that seeped in from the large window. However, it took her only seconds to understand that she was no longer on the couch. Shocked, she shot up out of bed, making herself dizzy in the process. She threw a confused look out the window, the loud sound of crunching gravel coming from outside, to see Zero's black Toyota Avalon speed around the back of the house and through the back gates, which led to an old country road.

"Huh?" Yuuki yawned, turning back around. After seeing how empty the dark blue and black room was, the realization of where she was slammed into her full force. She jumped off of Zero's bed, looking like a child who'd just broken her mother's prized vase, and slowly backed out of the room.

How did she even leave the couch, and end up in Zero's room of all places? _Well, duh, Zero must of moved me._ It was the only logical explanation, seeing as even if she could have started suddenly sleepwalking, his door had been locked all night. Blushing slightly, she ran down the stairs and out into the living room, determined to get as far away from the room as possible.

_I was just sleeping in_ his _bed! Where_ he _sleeps!_

Forcing herself to calm down, she sat on the island and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from the drawer. "Okay," she said to herself, "so, first thing on today's to do list. Uh, call the book company." Right, call the book company. Maybe someone there will have enough patience and understanding to listen to her rant about Zero for an hour.

"Go to the store," she added, underlining it at least four times before crossing it out, "no, make Zero take me to the store." Grumbling, she scribbled that out as well, and circled what she had previously written. "Talk to Yagari and Kaname about the new class." she sighed, "Good, Yuuki, this is good."

_Maybe Yagari will know some way for me to get Zero to talk to me again._

"No!" she yelled, only to slightly freak out upon realizing that her father was still in bed, "Unlock door." she inked, glaring down at the pink tinted paper for a moment. "Make Zero unlock door." After adding it to the beginning of her short request, she crossed out Zero and put Kaname. "There, have Kaname unlock door."

And that left; Zero. Feeling all of her aggravation come out onto the paper, she pushed the ink pen down onto the page as hard as she could and covered it in the name of her best friend, each one in it's own size, style, and font. Scowling at the paper in front of her, she lifted it up and ripped it in half. Why couldn't she focus on anything other than Zero? She'd been up for maybe five minutes, she already couldn't stop thinking about him.

"Call the book company to check on the books," she said quickly and loudly, "ask Kaname and Yagari about the class for next year, have Kaname unlock my door, make Kaname drive me to the store!"

_Kaname won't be awake to do any of this stuff until all of the stores are already closed._

Yuuki angrily stood up and stormed over to the couch, falling over on top of it and cramming her face into a pillow. "Stop thinking about Zero!" she screamed, as loudly as humanly possible.

"Oh," the chairman chuckled, slowly inching his way down the carpeted stairs, "I take it that means you two are still fighting, then?"

"We aren't fighting," Yuuki huffed, sitting up and pulling her hair back, "he's just being difficult."

Yuuki's father knit his eyebrows together and bent down, picking up two fallen pieces of paper. "Dear?" he sighed as he held the two together and skimmed over them, "Are you sure there's nothing you want to talk about?"

"Nope." Yuuki said, "I'm fine, just fine. How are you?"

"I've just come down to check the laundry," he smiled, "don't mind me."

"Is your fever down?" she asked, pulling herself up and following him to the laundry room.

"Uh," he chuckled nervously.

"Go lie down." she replied, "You shouldn't have gotten out of bed to begin with. I'll do the laundry."

"Are you sure?" he smiled sadly, "I'm not completely helpless, you know."

"Yes, I'm sure." she sighed, but smiling none the less, "Go on, I can handle switching some laundry."

Kaien smiled to his daughter weakly as he passed her, heading out the door that led to the garage landing, and back into the house. He looked down at the two pieces of paper in his hand, and realized it was impossible to miss how "Zero" was simply scribbled everywhere. Though he had learned a long time ago it was best for the two to simply work it out themselves, something told him he might have to jump start the healing process. Glancing over his shoulder to ensure that Yuuki was busy with the laundry and not watching him, he folded the pieces of paper up together and slid them under her door.

"Stupid Zero, being stupid and not listening me." Yuuki muttered as she folded a pair of her light blue skinny jeans. Why couldn't he just accept the fact that he let his anger out when he should have left it in? She wasn't hurt, so it's not as if it was something that really needed to be hung over the way he was currently obsessed with it.

But what if it wasn't even about that night? What if he'd gotten over that, but there was something else that made him not want to talk to her? Maybe she'd actually done something to make him do this. Like, talking about Kaname too much? No, it couldn't be that. She'd learned not to talk about her brother in front of the lavender eyed man way before they even joined high school.

Perhaps he was annoyed that she was too needy. Well, was she even needy? She just didn't want to be separated from him for long, extended periods of time, but that was out of fear if anything. She was afraid he would hurt himself, she was afraid it'd end up just like that night, and he'd need blood, she was afraid he'd never come back, she was afraid she'd never see him again.

But that fear had to come from somewhere. After all, she couldn't fear if she didn't care, and she felt that she did a little more than just care about him. _So it's true then, I like him? No, I can't like him! I don't _like_ anyone! Ugh, Gods damn my stupid brain, and my stupid feelings, and my stupid obsession, just, everything!_

Yuuki jumped back after a thud sounded in front her. _ Oh, great, this is perfect,_ she thought as she bent down to pick up the dropped basket of clothes. There was no way she'd be able to unlock her door while her brain was being suffocated with Zero. She'd probably get side tracked thinking about him and fall to her death. But, who knows, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing after all, seeing as it meant she wouldn't have to worry about him clogging up her mind, and it's not like he cared anyways.

But that always seemed to be the problem, didn't it? She cared too much, and he didn't care enough. She cared about everything, and he hardly cared about anything. Little did she know, he in fact _did_ care about something, and that was the whole reason they were in this situation.

* * *

"So, basically, he was just like, gone. So I found him, and then he got all mad, and was like, 'Leave!', only I said no, and then he grabbed me, and then he ran out, and then he came into my room later, and I was already tired, and so when he drank from me, I just got really light headed really fast. And now he won't talk to me, because apparently it's just the most horrible thing in the world!"

"Uh," Yori said sheepishly, "I thought we were going to the store?"

* * *

"But, seriously, it's not like I even did anything! I keep running it through my mind, and going over it over and over again, and there is _nothing_ that should make him act this way! And now I have all of this work to do, and I have to worry about him too, and this whole thing has just got me so aggravated!"

"I can tell," Yori nodded, silently wishing there was a way to block out her friend's rambling, "but do you really need five boxes of hot chocolate?"

* * *

"And do I like him?" Yuuki asked melodramatically, throwing things randomly from her basket onto the conveyor belt of the checkout, "I don't even know, Yori! I do not even know! Because how am I supposed to admit that I like someone who doesn't like me? I can't! But that doesn't even mean that I want to admit it, because I have nothing to admit, because I don't like him!"

"How exactly are we going to pay for all of this?" Yori asked, her eyes huge, watching as Yuuki continued blubbering and throwing things at the just as confused cashier.

* * *

"I don't get it," Yuuki fake sobbed as she and her peach haired friend carried numerous bags from the store, "I don't get why he won't talk to me."

"Yuuki?" Yori asked quietly as a head full of brown hair was slammed against her shoulder, "And, keep in mind, I say this as a friend, and in the nicest way possible, but I think you might be having a mental breakdown."

"No!" Yuuki snapped, jolting her head up, "I'm fine! I can take care of myself, and the headmaster, and the headmaster's job, and school, and Zero, and I can fix our relationship!" She turned, showing Yori a cheeky grin as they began walking once more, "I'm fine."

* * *

"I am so not okay." Yuuki said sadly as she dumped three servings worth of chocolate powder into a single mug of hot water. Her throat was starting to burn, and she couldn't help but feel more than a little stupid about refusing to shut up about the whole Zero situation. It was completely unlike her, and she didn't know why she did it, but she was just so fed up that she was actually beginning to feel as though she knew what Zero normally felt like.

She wanted to punch something, which was odd for her, and she wanted to scream and yell, because she felt as though if she didn't, she would keep it all inside of her, and then it would explode in one way or another. But, at least for right now, she was determined to calm down. After all, she'd already dealt with the book company, and she had gotten back from the store about an hour ago. That left her to study, talk to Kaname and Yagari, and somehow get her door unlocked. She was completely determined to erase every thought of Zero from her mind, at least for the time being.

Sighing, she sat down on the puffy couch and picked up the remote in one hand, using the other to bring her dark red coffee cup to her lips. She constantly reminded herself to take deep breaths, hoping that it would soothe her faster than the hot chocolate alone. And surprisingly enough, it seemed to be working. It wasn't until very long that she began to feel, for the most part anyway, normal again. She pushed Zero as far away from her mind as she could, and instead, focused on whatever cooking show she was watching.

Who knows, maybe this show could actually help her to a certain extent. It was no secret that she couldn't cook to save her life, so maybe if she payed close enough attention, she'd be able to cook one last dinner for Zero and her -

_No. No no no, no no, no no no. No Zero._

Closing her eyes and inhaling as deeply as she could, she pushed all thoughts of her best friend out of her mind once more. Already being well aware that she wasn't going to fully be able to really do anything even semi productive until she and Zero were on speaking terms once more, she sat her hot chocolate down on the coffee table and rolled onto her side. After all, she may not have done much today, but she was carrying enough stress for at least four people, and she figured she deserved a good nap.

* * *

The sun had already begun to set when Zero arrived back at the Chairman's Dorm, much to Yuuki's confusion. After waking up for a second time today, she had decided just to call Yagari and Kaname, leaving only two things on her list. Well, besides caring for her father, that is. Thankfully, no one had started an argument at all that day, which seemed to make her job a thousand times easier.

"Hi!" Yuuki chirped happily as Zero walked through the door to the side of the couch she was lounging on, "How was house hunting? Did you find your house?" Zero sighed and forced himself to ignore her. She frowned at him as he walked up the long line of stairs towards his room. "Hey, wait! My door! Can you help me climb around the side of the house so I can get in the window?"

Turning around, the hunter shot her a look of annoyance. Climb around the house? Seriously? Shaking his head, he walked back the stairs, making her light up. She scrambled to follow him out the garage door, which he had just previously walked through, and stood on the stairs while he grabbed two thin, slotted screwdrivers and a gift card.

"I was kind of thinking a ladder?" Yuuki said, obviously more than a little confused. He glared at her and walked past her back into the house. "Oh, okay," she smiled, rushing to keep up with him, "or we can do it your way, that works too."

Sighing, she continued to follow him up to her door, where he began to pick the lock. She would have to think of a brilliant plan to get him to speak to her again, but at least she knew he was listening. Upon hearing a loud "click", Zero stood up and slid the thin plastic of the Lowes card in between the small crack between the door and it's frame. He kicked it open and stepped halfway into the doorway to unlock it from the inside.

_Now's my chance!_

Inhaling deeply, Yuuki charged at him while he was unsuspecting, causing him to stumble out of the way. She slammed the door shut behind her and twisted the lock, only the cup the knob with both of her hands, holding it protectively behind her back. Zero folded his arms and scowled at her.

"Thanks for unlocking my door." she smiled, tightening her grip on the brass ball behind her.

"Yuuki, get out of the way."

_It actually worked; he's talking again._

"No." she smiled brightly, ecstatic that he was showing basic human emotion again.

"I said move." he huffed, taking a step towards her.

"And I said no." she replied, backing up against the door, the handle of which was lightly digging against the small of her back. "Zero, we need to talk."

"No, we don't." he said angrily, "There's nothing to talk about."

"Then why won't you even look at me?" she asked sadly, "Are you that annoyed with me? I don't even know what I did, but I'm sorry, okay?"

"You didn't do anything," he sighed, "_I_ did. Just, move out of my way."

"No," she retorted again, "and you didn't do _anything_. I already told you that I'm fine."

"You don't remember what happened, do you?"

"I - I remember some of it," she muttered, "I know that you might have drank a little too much. But I'm fine! I was fine then, and I'm fine now!"

"Exactly, Yuuki." he scoffed, "I took _way_ too much, and you can't even remember all that happened because of that. My job is to protect you, and this is keeping me from hurting you again, so get away from the door."

"This is hurting me more than you physically ever could, Zero!" she yelled, closing her eyes and dropping her head out of shame, her long auburn locks falling over her shoulders and hanging beside her face. A wave of pain washed over him, and he simply stared at her. "I - you're my best friend, Zero. I've been so worried and so upset, that even Yori thought I was having a mental breakdown."

With a grim face, Zero reached one of his hands out and grabbed the top of her arm, pulling her into his chest. "I'm sorry," he mumbled as he wrapped his arms around her. Sighing in relief, Yuuki hugged him back.

"I'm sorry too," she replied, the sound muffled in his shirt. "Can we go back to normal now? Please?"

"I guess," he said, secretly just as relived as she was. He knew that in the end, he'd still be forced to leave, but that didn't mean that for right now, they could continue to banter and argue just like they always had.

"Does this mean that you'll help me plan the end of the year dance?"

"What?" he pulled away to stare at her.

"Well, we're supposed to start planning it, and dad's still sick, so I'm doing it. And I mean, I can't do _everything_."

Rolling his eyes, he shook his head at her. A wide smile crept across her face at his response.

_Yup, he's back._


	3. Sloth

_This chapter was by far the easiest one for me to get an idea for, and the idea I had for this chapter is also what made me start writing this story, so I hope you like it(:_

_P.S. When I first wrote this, I decided to include the actual house hunting part. But you know, it was kind of like, more than boring, and how exactly are you supposed to describe house hunting? I can only say "dark oak" and "granite" so many times in a single section of these things. So after over a week and a half of constantly editing and taking stuff out and adding stuff in, I just decided to scrap that section all together. However, if you would for some reason be interested in listening to Yuuki and Zero be extremely OOC while talking about how great wood furnishings are, I suppose I could attempt it again. But it's been long enough, so I figured I'd just post it. __I also want to send a ginormous thank you to those who are reviewing, favoriting, following, and even PMing me. Your feedback means a lot(:_

_P.P.S. I feel as though this chapter might be kind of OOC, especially for Zero, even though I took out the house hunting part, but given the circumstances, I just thought that this is the way he would probably act. So yeah, just a little heads up._

_P.P.P.S. I would also like to take a moment to say that virtually nothing was accomplished this chapter, minus the very last section. That's pretty much it. I feel like such an ambitious writer today; writing half a chapter of rambling for No Light, and accomplishing zilch in a full chapter of Seven Deadly Sins. I'm on a roll._

_Update: I'll just go by fives I guess. So, yeah. I already have ten reviews ( but that doesn't mean you can't still review ;) ) and so I guess all I need is 15 favorites and 20 follows. Thank you much ^_^_

_Copyright: I don't own Vampire Knight or any of it's characters, (or Toyota, or anything else I will probably mention), I only own the story._

* * *

_~Sloth~_

_Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work._

* * *

It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining, the birds were flying, and Yuuki was dying. Of all the things that possibly could have gone wrong on today of all days, this was probably the worst possible thing that could ever happen in the history of forever. She had been on duty all morning, and for the afternoon as well until a few minutes before, just as she normally was on Saturday's, and everything had been fine and dandy until _it_ happened. She was finally forced to make the dreaded decision she'd tried to put off since she first started her roll as a Guardian. The simple realization was that of a Venus Fly Trap; it seemed utterly beautiful, and in her mind, she thought to herself, "Why not do it?", but once she landed herself into the sticky situation, she'd be done for.

Today was the day she was debating playing hooky from her duties.

Zero had gone to look for a new house twice since their little heart to heart, making it three houses he'd seen in total. Today was the day he'd see his last option, something which relieved him to no end. Yuuki, on the other hand, not so much. She had tried both times to get him to take her with, and she was flat out determined to go with him at least once. That seemed to leave her with no choice but to skip out on the rest of today's work and force Zero to take her with him. Inhaling deeply out of fear, she kept one hand tightly secured around the vine she was holding, and threw her other hand out beside her, reaching for the white colored edge of her window. She let out a sigh of relief when she managed to grab hold of it, and carefully pulled herself onto the ledge.

After kicking the screen out of the way, she slid inside, landing on her soft mattress. There was no way she could mention to her father what she was currently debating, or more so, _doing_. She didn't want him to think she was skipping out because she didn't want to do her job anymore. No, it wasn't that at all; she just wanted to go with Zero more. It had been two weeks since they had agreed to go back to normal, and in her mind at least, that meant that he didn't have the right to tell her she couldn't tag along with him to something as important as this. Sure, she may not have seen the other houses, but maybe a feminine opinion could be of some use to her best friend.

She hurried over to her dresser and pulled out a pair of ankle socks and a short white dress. The last thing she needed was a friend of her father's realizing she was out with her uniform on, or Gods forbid, a student who would realize she was indeed ditching her job. She hurriedly changed, and made sure to put the uniform she had been wearing into a bag that she could take with her, just in case she wasn't able to sneak back inside, and therefore would need to change before entering the house.

Struggling to pull her other boot on, Yuuki hopped back over to her bed. _Now for the tricky part._ She slammed her foot against the ground, forcing her shoe on, grabbed her dark red purse and the Von Maur bag she had shoved her uniform into, and picked up the screen. Sending out a silent prayer, she dropped the large blue bag out the window and hoped that her father hadn't noticed the falling bag from the windows of his office. She hiked her purse up her shoulder and climbed out the window, and even though she was sitting on the ledge, she felt as though she would fall off any second.

She popped her screen back into place, making it look like she'd never been in her room at all, and carefully grabbed one of the large, sturdy vines that ran up the side of her house. She felt like it was easier to slide down than it was to climb up, but that didn't mean that it didn't frighten her to a certain extent. In fact, she didn't know what exactly had compelled her to climb up to her window in the first place; she probably would have been able to simply go through the house without seeing her father, seeing as he was still trying to get caught up on work from when he was sick. After all, Yuuki could only fill in for his job as headmaster, not his job as the president of the Hunter's Association. Yuuki smiled to herself as her small feet hit the ground, a sign that at least for now, she was good.

She picked up the bag and hurried around the back of the house, careful to avoid any of her wandering peers, until she made it all the way over to Zero's black Avalon, which he received as a a present from the Hunter's Association on his eighteenth birthday. She looked over both of her shoulders as she ducked around the right side of the car. She yanked on the handle of the passenger seat door, only to come to the sad realization that he hadn't forgotten to lock his car. Rolling her eyes, she dropped the bag containing her uniform and moved over to try the back door. Cursing lightly under her breath, she ducked and curled her fingers on the bottom rim of the window as she heard her garage door slam shut.

Zero sighed as he emerged from the back of the house, slightly proud that he'd manage to escape the chairman's aimless rambling. Two beeps sounded and the lights of the car flash, signalling that Yuuki was now free to climb into the car. "What are you doing?" Zero huffed as her hand reached out to grab the door.

"Coming with!" she smiled, shooting up from her crouched position.

"Yeah, no you're not." he sighed, opening the drivers side door and placing his to go cup of coffee into the mug holder.

"I am too," Yuuki whined, "I have to go with at least one time, and this is the last house."

"I never agreed to taking you with me." he said stubbornly as he studied her. Her long, dark hair was messy as always, and with a slight wave to it. The bottom of her dress flowed around the top of her knees, and the top was overlaid with intricate white lace, and the fitted sleeves stopped halfway to her wrists. Of course she had tried to make herself look extra gorgeous as a way to pressure him into saying yes. And while she hadn't done it intentionally, it seemed to be working to her advantage.

"That doesn't matter," she replied, "I want to go with, and so you should take me."

"Does your dad know you're out here?"

"Uh," she replied quietly, shifting her weight from her right hip to her left.

"You're not coming." he grumbled as he fluidly seemed to glide into the seat.

"Fine," Yuuki retorted angrily. She dropped her purse and reached her arms up, pressing her palms against the top of the car, allowing her to pull herself up. She then proceeded to crawl over and sit on the top of the sunroof. She crossed her legs and arms and stared right in front of her.

"Yuuki!" Zero scolded, forcing himself not to look up at the sunroof, "Get down, you're not going!"

"Like you'll drive off with me here." she mocked, "I tell you what; if you let me come with, I'll get down."

"My ass," he snorted, slamming his door shut and pressed the button to the right of the steering wheel on the dashboard, starting the car. _He wouldn't?_ Extremely carefully and slowly, of course, Zero started to back the car up. Yuuki screamed and dropped her hands to brace herself just as the vehicle stopped.

Oh, but it didn't stop there. Still refusing to look, Zero brought his hand to the sunroof button and lightly tapped it before crossing his arms. Yuuki squealed again and backed off of the moving glass. "Get off of my car, Yuuki!"

"I want to come with!" she whined again, leaning her head over the opening at the top of the car, pieces of her long hair falling inside. Zero groaned and weighed his options. He refused to let her go with, and he'd never hear the end of it from her. He let her go with, and he'd probably have to stop and buy her food, and he'd never hear the end of it from the chairman.

_Yuuki it is._

"Fine," he grumbled, "just get off my car."

"Yay!" she squealed, sliding off the black metal and picking up her bags. She shoved the Von Maur bag in the back and hurried to get into the passenger seat before he changed his mind. It took her only a moment to realize two things; Zero's car was a lot nicer and drove a lot smoother than her father's beat up A6, which was, sadly enough, the car she had learned to drive in. She also noticed that Zero was a much better driver than both her and her father.

"You should let me drive this sometime," she smiled, "this is so much better than dad's car."

"I've ridden with you twice," Zero sighed as he pulled through the now open back gate and onto the old road on the edge of a steep hill, "and each time, you almost killed me."

"You didn't almost die," she snorted, "other people should just learn how to stay in their lane."

"Then maybe you should get out of theirs." he said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes at him and looked at her window; they were now at least halfway up the first of the hills that led to the rest of the universe. The landscape was full of plateaus, which slightly scared her. All of the surprisingly smooth roads were towards the very edge of the curved cliffs in an attempt to preserve the wildlife.

"It would suck so badly to drive off of one of these things." Yuuki said quietly, staring as the area around her changed from dense forests to tall, light grass, bushes, tiny trees, and pale yellow dirt.

"There are guard rails." Zero shrugged and he turned the car down one of the winding, surprisingly well-paved roads.

"Do you really think that a foot tall rail is going to stop a speeding car?" Yuuki snorted, turning away from the window.

"If you slammed on your breaks before hand, then yes."

"I still don't think so." she sighed, "Oh, but there is something I've been wanting to talk to you about. So, I've been thinking of jobs lately, since now I'm seventeen and all."

"And?"

"And I think I might want to join the Hunter's Association." Yuuki said nervously, almost positive that she knew exactly how he'd respond.

"No." Zero replied almost instantly. _Is she stupid?_ Yuuki knew how to defend herself, which was a good thing, but being able to whack a vampire on the head with an electric stick wasn't enough to hunt them down and kill them.

"Why not?" she asked, leaning back against the leather seat and turning to face him, "You're in the Hunter's Association, and the chairman is the president, so I don't see what the big deal is. It'll be like, a family business."

Zero almost winced in pain at her words. _Family._ A painful reminder of what Yuuki thought of him shot through his body; her brother. "Doesn't matter," he said, tightening his hold on the steering wheel, "you've never had any training, and something tells me that when it comes down to it, you wouldn't be able to kill anything."

"I can kill mosquitoes," she chirped happily, "and they do the same thing as vampires."

"If you think that killing a mosquito is the same as killing a Level E, then you're going to have a bad time."

"I don't," she pouted, "I'm just saying that vampires and mosquitoes do the same thing, and I can kill one of them."

"I'm stronger." Zero shook his head.

"I'm faster."

"I grow fangs."

"And I'm smarter."

"You are not."

"I am too."

"Yuuki, you are not smarter than me." Zero rolled his opal eyes, "If you were, you wouldn't be failing Algebra right now. It's only your third time taking it."

"You get my point," Yuuki scowled, "I could do it. And besides, I could still train now."

"By who?"

"You could train me." she shrugged.

"I tell you what," he sighed as they pulled into the city, "if you're still serious about this in six months, I'll train you."

"Really?" Yuuki said happily, her head perking up.

"Really," he sighed again, wishing they could somehow get off of this subject. What she _didn't_ know was that becoming a hunter was something that your entire life revolved around; it completely took over your life in one way or another, and had he had a choice, he wished he hadn't been born into a family of hunters. If he wasn't, his parents would still be alive, he wouldn't have had to kill his brother, and he probably wouldn't have been bitten in the first place.

But, there were positives to what had happened. After all, meeting Yuuki was what he considered the best thing to happen in his brief, miserable existence. "You're moving to the city?" she asked, tilting her head as she stared at the tall buildings and bright lights to the sides of the car.

"I've seen two apartments here, but the house I'm looking at today is in the suburbs."

"So, wait, you are looking for an actual house?" she knit her eyebrows together and stared at her white haired companion.

"It just depends on if I like it or not." he shrugged, "I might feel like never moving after this, so if I like a house, I'll probably get it instead of an apartment."

"Wouldn't it be weird to live by the city?" she smiled, "I thought you've always lived out in the country."

"It wouldn't be all that weird." he sighed, "I used to spend time in the city when I was younger. Besides, it's not like I'd live in the actual city. This is mostly offices."

"How far away from here is the house we're going to see?"

"Not that far," he muttered, "why do you keep asking questions?"

"Because I'm curious." she giggled as they stopped behind a taxi. "How big is the house?"

"How in the hell am I supposed to know? I haven't seen it yet."

"I mean like, bedrooms and stuff." she sighed.

"I'm not telling you."

"Why not?" she pouted.

"Because you're going to freak out, just like you do with everything."

"Please? Pretty please?"

"Five." he sighed as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Five?" she gaped, "The house must be huge! It's probably like, a million dollars!"

"Four point eight." he shrugged as he put his cup back into it's black holder.

"You're willing to spend four million dollars on a house?" she screamed, "Do you even have four million dollars?"

"Quiet down, will you?" he scowled, "And you have to remember, along with my job, my family had money, and seeing as I'm the last one left, said money is now mine."

"But that's crazy! You're one person!"

"I just said that I may decide I don't want to move again." he shook his head.

"I would have been okay with two bedrooms." she sighed.

"Why two?"

"Because that means that I could come stay the night all the time."

"You're not going to be staying the night at my house, Yuuki."

"Why not?" she huffed.

"Why are you so whiney today?"

"I'm not whiny." she rolled her eyes as the radio turned on. "Woah, did I just say a code word?"

"No, it's because we're in the city limits now, and radio stations actually exist." he snorted.

"Hey, I know this song!" she smiled, "Down like that, d-down like that." she sang mockingly, almost purposely trying to annoy him, "I look great, I - I look great."

"What kind of song is this?" Zero glared at her.

"Beyonce." she shrugged.

"Yuuki, I think this is lyrical porn."

"What?" she squealed, a blush peppering her face, "It is not!"

"Have you even listened to the actual lyrics?" _Gods she's beautiful._

"Well, yeah," she stuttered, "but it's like, maybe she's talking about driving! You go fast and slow in a car! And you ride in it!"

"You're logic is so messed up." he shook his head again, honestly fighting back the urge to laugh at her. Her eyes grew wide at the small smile that spread over his lips.

"You're smiling!" she exclaimed.

"And?" he said, turning to scowl at her.

"And it's gone." she replied, dragging out the "A" sound. "Damn."

"You're crazy." he snorted.

"I could be worse." she smiled.

* * *

"We're really stupid," Yuuki sighed as she dug into a bag of cheese fries, "if I get back and I'm eating, my dad is going to know I left, and then he's going to kill me."

"We can stop and eat at one of the viewing cut offs." Zero shrugged, reaching into the bag himself as he turned onto a dirt road that traveled to the edge of the forest. He rode with White Lily down here all the time, and was silently glad that he had a reason to show Yuuki one of his favorite hiding spots. It took him only a minute or two to get there by car, while normally it took him around ten minutes to get there after he turned onto the road.

The spot was normally vacant, and was right on the edge of one of the many plateaus that littered the area. There was a small fence around the edge of the rocky cliff, and about thirteen feet from the edge was the tree line of the forest. Not to mention, it was nearly directly outside the perimeter of the school, and the large, stone fence could easily be seen if you looked past the trees. Zero pulled up straight, stopping just short of the fence, right as the sun was about to disappear from the dusk sky. He sighed as he climbed out of the car, Yuuki doing the same thing shortly, and she held the Sonic bag to her chest.

"Are those horses?" she smiled, looking down at the land far below them.

"Probably." Zero replied, walking towards the forest. He sat down and began to lounge against a tree, and Yuuki rushed over to sit down, leaning on a tree beside him. She pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil from her red purse and placed the bag of food in between them. It wasn't long before Zero slid down the tree, folding his arms behind his head, and simply decided to lie on the ground, making it obvious to the girl on his right not to bother him.

The two had spent a little over an hour looking at the large, well furnished residence, and surprisingly enough, Zero had actually considered it. And according to Yuuki, that meant he was ready to sign the papers and move in. Of course, she was happy for him, but it was more than a little upsetting to know just how close they were to the fateful day when he would leave. But, just as always, she would smile and bid him good luck, then let him go out on his merry way.

And, you know, kind of sneaking in every once in a while, that too.

Yuuki continued to occasionally grab a fry or two from the bag as she focused on her writing. Even though the sun was setting, it wasn't very hard for her to see as she continued to draw out a story from her mind. _White hair and - no._ Yuuki shook her head and blushed, only to glance over at Zero. She was extremely glad that he appeared to be sleeping as she hurried to erase what she had previously written down. She grabbed another cheese bathed fry from the white bag and thought for a moment.

_Irritable, but loving; strict and strong._

_No._

What was wrong with her? She stared at the paper with a large frown plastered on her face. _This is hopeless._ Maybe she should just write something about Zero, just to get it all out. It was better than making a fool of herself. After all, he was sleeping, so it's not as if he'd ever know. Still unable to hide the blush from her face, she peered over at him. His eyes were closed, so as long as she didn't seem too guilty, she should be good. But what was there to say? What was she supposed to write? A thought struck her, and she realized that maybe she shouldn't write poetry, but a letter instead. But what would she "say" to him? It wasn't as though he'd ever see it, so maybe it would be a good way for her to confess.

_I don't have anything to confess._

She knew she was lying to herself, but at the time, she didn't care. Maybe if she explained to him that she didn't want him to leave, she'd feel better about it. Inhaling deeply, she began to write her small letter to her best friend. She wrote down everything that came to her mind when she thought about him. She wrote how he made her feel, how she was worried for him, how she was scared to be without him. And somehow, with every little detail that she added to the paper, she did start to feel slightly better.

Yuuki couldn't shake the feeling of just how, well, date-like their current situation was. They'd spent a little over two hours together, but that didn't make it a date, did it? She had practically forced him to take her with, so that didn't count, right? But the two of them together, alone, on the edge of a cliff with the sunset ahead of them, that seemed like a date to her. Hell, they had even been sharing french fries. Luckily, Zero didn't open his eyes once, meaning he never saw her blushing face.

_I love you,_ she started, absentmindedly pushing the lead of the pencil into the thin paper with much more force than truly necessary, _wow, it felt really good to not say that. But I do, really and truly. I know that I can annoy you, and that you can get angry sometimes, but I love you anyways. In fact, that's why I love you. Because you don't take anything. If you don't like something, you do something about it. Even when you're in your worst state, you try to put me first. And I love how there are those few times when you smile, and how I can somehow manage to coax it out of you. I can't even explain it; that's how complicated it is. But I love you. _

Zero was beginning to subconsciously wonder the same thing about their situation as she was. It really _did_ seem like bringing a girl here would count as a date, and the fact that the residual, but secret, sexual tension between the two was clouding the air around them, it truly did seem like a date. The thought just seemed to make it even harder for him to refrain himself. He didn't want to do something stupid like he knew he was probably going to if they were left alone for very much longer.

All too soon, it became too dark for Yuuki to see what she was on her paper, so she simply closed the notebook and hugged it to her chest, glancing over beside her once more. _Is he actually asleep?_ She looked down at her knees for a minute, debating whether or not she should say something. But how was she supposed to talk? She shoved her notebook into her purse and began to twirl her pencil around in her fingers. She'd have to wake him up soon anyway, or else her father would begin to get suspicious as to why she hadn't stopped in yet.

_What am I doing?_

Slowly she inched her way over to his resting figure. At first, she sat there, but ever so slowly, she lied down beside him. _Stupid, this dress is white!_ Still blushing simply at how close they were, she turned slightly and nuzzled her face into the side of his chest. Zero opened one of his eyes and looked down at her before hastily closing it again.

"Yuuki?"

"Yeah?" she hummed nervously.

"What are you doing?"

"Uh," she squealed, pulling herself up, "I just, uh, dropped my pencil! Oh look, found it!" She stumbled to stand up, determined to get as far away from his as possible. "D-don't look!" she stuttered as she backed away from him and towards the car, "I'm going to change!"

Zero just shrugged his shoulders and pulled himself up. Yuuki slammed the back door of the car shut and pulled out all of the articles of her uniform, splaying them out on the seats. The moon haired vampire couldn't stray his eyes away from her, and she could feel his gaze against her back. She wasn't quite sure what to do, but she figured that there shouldn't be a problem since she was facing away from him. Slowly, she pulled her arms through the sleeves of her dress, then slipped the whole thing over her head.

Zero was mentally stabbing himself over and over again, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight. She gracefully, and almost effortlessly, unhooked her bra from behind her back and let it glide down her shoulder. It was plainly obvious how erotic is was, even as she pulled her undershirt on. She pulled her hair out of the back of the soft, white material, letting it fall down her back, and he sighed. There was so much wrong with their current situation that he couldn't even begin to go into it. Even though she now had a shirt on, he could still feel the tightness in his chest from his lack of breathing.

Yuuki hurried to put her jacket on, determined to cover herself from the waist up as much and as fast as possible. She couldn't help but feel more than a little embarrassed that she knew Zero was watching, but it also made her feel proud; he was looking at her, and that meant that he was curious about her in one way or another. Sighing shakily, she pulled her skirt on with minor difficulty, and ended up falling onto her back as she slipped her socks on. Zero shook his head and grabbed her purse and the Sonic bag, realizing that now she was decently covered, therefore it was time to leave.

"Yuuki," Zero sighed as he sat down in the driver's seat, "I just realized something."

"What?" she asked as she climbed over the center tray and into the passenger seat, silently praying that he wouldn't bring up any of what had just happened in the last ten minutes.

"Because it's late, I'll have to call your dad to open the gate." he sighed as he started the car and began to back out of the small parking lot.

"Crap!" Yuuki groaned, "Do you think if I hid in the back, he wouldn't be able to see me?"

"These windows aren't tinted." he muttered, seriously beginning to regret his decision of bringing her with.

"Uh, okay, it's okay, we can fix this." she said frantically, seeing as the gate to the school started to become closer and closer. "I've got it! I can climb over and go hide out somewhere for a little bit, and you carry my bags in!"

"Yuuki, I'm not going to carry your purse inside." he scolded, "Could you be any more obvious?"

"Just shove it into the other bag and say that I had you stop to pick up something!" she squealed. _Gods, how am I going to do this?_

"Well, you've got maybe like, another thirty seconds."

"Should I get out now to make it less obvious?" she asked nervously, the anticipation of getting caught killing her.

"No," he sighed, "just get out at the gate."

"What if I get caught?"

"Then you get caught," he shrugged, "it's not that big of a deal."

"Not that big of deal?" she panicked, "Of course it's a big deal! I've never played hooky in my life, Zero!"

"And trust me, judging by how you're freaking out right now, it's plainly obvious."

"_But what if I get caught_?"

"Make up an excuse." he muttered in annoyance, stopping the car in front of the large black gate. "I'll take the bag to your room."

"Zero," Yuuki sighed, "if I don't make it back - "

"Just go." he grumbled. Pulling out all of her courage, Yuuki stepped out of the car and rushed up to the gate. Though it was taller than her, she was able to step on a protruding piece of wood to launched herself up. Once she had grabbed the top, she pulled herself up, and just at the right time. She sat straddled on top of the now moving piece of whatever the gate was made out of, and looked down to see the haunting eyes of her father. She quickly glanced behind her and was well aware that Zero, grumpy, irritable, easily anger and annoyed Zero, was smiling at the odd sight of her riding on top of the thick gate.

"I - I was just trying to open the gate for him." Yuuki blushed as the gate came to a halt with a loud click.

"Get down," her father sighed.

"Uh, Zero bought a house!" she smiled, trying to make the blonde man forget everything he'd just witnessed.

"Yuuki, I'm not angry." he smiled, "I'd rather you sneak back in than sneak out."

_Wait, he believes me?_

"Y - you're not mad?" she stuttered, turning to slide down as Zero drove past them.

"Of course not," he chuckled, "why would I be? The gate's been broken for a while now, and you were just trying to help your friend."

_How could he believe me?_

"Oh," she laughed nervously, "yeah, I was just, trying to push it open, and, yeah. It didn't work very well."

Kaien smiled at his daughter sweetly as they walked towards the house. Of course he had been aware that she'd left with Zero earlier; he looked at the window when she started screaming, and watched just long enough to see her climb into his car. But if she'd gone to all of that trouble to avoid getting caught, he'd let her get away with it, but _just_ this once.

* * *

"Zero!" Yuuki hissed as she entered the hallway. Her father had already gone to bed, and she had changed into a nightgown shortly after arriving back home, though she had no intentions to go to bed yet.

"What?" he muttered, pulling open his door and stepping out of his room. "Huh?" he asked as she walked up to him and wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him down into a hug.

"Thanks for taking me with today." she giggled, "It was fun."

"Oh," he sighed, wrapping his arms around her as well, simply enjoying the feel of her against him, "yeah."

Yuuki pulled away slightly and stared up at him, still leaving her hands at the nape of his neck.

_He's right there._ | _She's still here._

_Why not?_ | _What's she doing?_

_What's the worst that could happen?_ | _If I try it, will she reject me?_

_It's not like it'd mean anything. | She might hate me forever._

Appearing to speak in their own silent language, the slowly pulled one another closer and closer together, only to stop for a brief second.

_I think he might actually do it!_ | _Does she really want to?_

Even slower than they wrapped around each other, they turned their heads and pressed their lips together in a short, chaste kiss. electricity seemed to shoot through the both of them, and for the first time in a very, _very_ long time, everything for both of them just seemed _right_. They pulled away suddenly, the two of them in shock over what they'd just done.

"Oh, good, you two are still - " the chairman as he walked out of his own room, but was cut off by the sound of two doors slamming loudly in sync.

_I really just did that; I really just kissed her._

_He kissed me! And I kissed him! And we kissed! And - and - I know - I think - I really do - I love him!_

The chairman glanced back and forth from Yuuki's door to Zero's, confusion written all over his face.

"What did I just miss?"


End file.
